Wild Willy 2
Model Number: 58242
Released
TBA
Drive
Rear 2WD, gear diff
Suspension
4 wheel independent coilover friction shocks
Chassis Description
WR-02 ABS plastic
Body Type
Green ABS plastic
Motor
RS-540S
Although visually similar to the original Wild Willy it is all new underneath. A Wild Dagger gearbox mated to the TL01 suspension and a unique rail frame, and topped by a slightly modified Wild Willy body. Another great stunt vehicle with plenty of thrills (and spills!) as you wheelie your way to infinity. (Description originally entered by Michael)
Reviews
BeetleLover
I've owned quite a number of cars but never had the urge to write a review, well at least until now. The Wild Willy 2 is simply the most fun I've had with an RC Vehicle! I found one recently NIB and snapped it up as they are becoming a little harder to find nowadays... but anyways so glad I built it, certainly a lot more fun out of the box! Kit went together nicely, nothing unusual about that... Nice extra detailing to do with Willy and other accessories... Driving is an absolute blast... I immediately fitted a set of CVA dampers from my Lancia 037 re-release and ball bearings... Despite it's obvious nature to do wheely's on immediate full throttle I was pleasantly surprised by it's pretty good handling and responsiveness! It's a tough little customer too with it's reinforced rollcage and bodywork that usually avoids contact with the ground in the case of a roll-over. This car has become my all time favourite Car and will keep my NIB Lunchbox in the cupboard forever... Why would you even bother unless of course it was to pinch the body to put on another Wild Willy 2 chassis!!!!
Tamiya1/10
Is a solid little car, not difficult to built and the injected plastic body is great and one can almost not paint the body. The only let down (like its father) is the hollow gas tank that comes with it. (If you want a firm suspension, buy the TA03 Al damper set but use the stock black springs.) After you are done with the detailings, you almost don't want to run it or with lots of TLC.
Renco5012
This car is a lot of fun and stands up well compared to the original. I'm running it almost stock 'cept for the plastic un-fantastic bearing and have replaced them with *manditory* ball bearings. I found it annoying while assembling the chassis that you have/had to take apart the already pre-assembled gear box. I don't know why they did that with this kit - maybe it's just the new ways of Tamiya, or because they thought that this kit would appeal more to kids rather than us "kids" who can't grow up
Other than that the chassis was easy to build and, as is my understanding, the only thing really unique parts-wise for it is the "side" frame. Anyways, I built up the chassis in a few leisurely evenings. The body: Well when I was looking through the sprues I noticed that the driver figure and some other parts are directly from the WW1 except for the fact that they had been molded to accept 3mm screws rather than the 4mm ones used on the WW1 body (the spare tire case and jerry can are what I'm refering to here). It's a pity that Tamiya couldn't get their problems sorted out so the exact WW1 body could have been used, but oh well. I'm not a fan of the horizontal slats in the grille very much but other than that it stills looks great. The roll cage is an exact copy from the WW1, too, except for the parts that allow the windshield to be screwed to the roll cage front frame rather than the old aluminium brackets from the original. I had problems fitting in the driver figure and after a few runs of the car with the body on the dashboard fell off evn after using a lot of glue. I thought it was a bad fit when assembling the body as Willy's boots get in the way of it fitting nicely. Also, I cut off the half inch plastic tab thingy on the bottom of the body that makes it sit higher at the back when it's mounted on the chassis. That's gotta be the worst thing about how the WW2 looks with the body sitting higher at the back. Now that it sits lower down at the rear the battery is a tad harder to remove as you have to lift the body up to remove the battery cover. It's no biggie for me though. Performance: Firstly you can wheelie *all* you want 
It will almost flip backwards if you're too quick on the throttle so I noticed on the first run. If you're finicky about scratching and putting "road rash" on the body I suggest you buy a spare so you can have one for blatting 'round the street and one for show, etc. I haven't done so and my body has a few scratches on it. Not an issue for me, though 
It will roll if you turn too quick or run it in reverse and quickly turn. It'll also flip end over end if you're going at a steady pace and turn too quick after you've just let off the gas - it's the spring loaded bumper that does this and like other members here I put on the more sensible "large" bumper. It bounces like a basketball! This thing jumps great too. Loose gravel, tarmac and flat grass is great for the WW2. It's not particulary fast (say about the speed of a Lunchbox/Midnight Pumpkin) so don't expect a speed demon. I run a stock motor with a 20T pinion rather than the kit included 18T. It's a classic fun car 
miramar
A Wild Willy II was up for dicussion among Tamiya and the distributors already in 1996 during the European Finals of the Tamiya Cup in Switzerland, but it took until 1999 before it was realized. No doubt it was worth waiting! What a great model!
With the sturdy Wild Dagger gearbox within a ladder frame with even an indication of a V8 engine and the TL01 suspension arms and chromed Mad Bull wheels, Tamiya has a winner. Top this chassis with the Wild Willy body, and you have a future classic.
The Wild Willy II is great fun to build, but for those of us who can't let be (why should we?) replacing the bushings with ball bearings the preassembled gearbox is slightly irritating. Apart from ball bearings the Wild Willy 2 doesn't really need any hop-ups, but many of the TL01 hop-ups fit the model, and it's a lot of fun hopping it up as so much is visible even with the body in place.
An even more visible hop-up is an insider tip from the time of the old monster QD's; the hop-up # 43009 QD Monster Spiked Tires fit! Spikes? Yes, "normal" rib tires with spikes between the ribs! They look great on the Wild Willy II.
The body is quite similar the original Wild Willy body, but to avoid problems related to licensing, Tamiya changed the vertical slots in the grill for horizontal slots, and added ribs on the bonnet. Now the model partly resembles the Ford Mutt rather than the Willys Jeep, but it still looks great. Tamiya deleted the hinges for the windscreen too, so it can't any longer be folded, but that's OK with me.
The Wild Willy II performs much better than the Wild Willy and it sure it's much more durable. Because of the better handling, it feels slower than the original, but the high center of gravity and short wheelbase doesn't make it suited for a hotter motor, if you care about the rather fragile body.
Conclusion: Like the original Wild Willy a very "unserious" model, but with the masses of fun that made the original a legend. A must for any collector.